metadata
noun
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How Metadata Was Formed
It's easy to find data on the source of "metadata": the word was formed by combining "data" with "meta-," which means "transcending" and is often used to describe a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one. "Meta-" was first used in that way in "metaphysics" and has been extended to a number of other disciplines, giving us such words as "metapsychology" and "metamathematics." "Metadata" takes the "transcending" aspect a step further, applying it to the concept of pure information instead of a discipline. "Metadata" is a fairly new word (it appeared in the latter half of the 20th century), whereas "data" can be traced back to the middle of the 17th century.
Examples of metadata in a Sentence
Gary Drenik, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Boston Public Library is launching a project with OpenAI and Harvard Law School to improve the metadata of its trove of historically significant government documents.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent documents have shown that some of the letters and subpoena notices Comer has pushed out for the investigation have been signed digitally and not by the representative, according to NBC's analysis of the metadata.
—Mandy Taheri
gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
Take advantage of the metadata and be detail-heavy and specific.
—Nohar Zmora, Forbes.com, 30 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for metadata
Cite this Entry
“Metadata.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metadata. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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